Rereading Skowronek

2003 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 443-453
Author(s):  
Elisabeth S. Clemens
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Institutional Change ◽  
Political Science ◽  
American History ◽  
Political Development ◽  
Voting Behavior ◽  
Political Sociology ◽  
American Political Development ◽  
The Impact

Although American Political Development is one of the more sociological corners of political science, for the most part sociologists have not been attuned to its contributions. Even among historical sociologists, the central conversations have been motivated by classic questions about transitions to capitalism and revolution in Europe rather than by puzzles of American exceptionalism.Much of political sociology has focused on individual voting behavior and public opinion; social movements research focuses heavily on the most recent decades in American history. Consequently, a review of the impact of Stephen Skowronek’s Building a New American State within sociology reveals a sharply delimited set of direct influences beyond the research already well known to scholars in American Political Development, largely the work of Theda Skocpol (1992) and her many students and collaborators (e.g., Orloff and Skocpol 1984). A rereading, by contrast, highlights the importance of the book for contemporary discussions of the forms and processes of institutional change.

Reconsideration of the Research Trajectory on the Carceral State

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 192-207
Author(s):  
Juliette Barbera
Keyword(s):  
Political Science ◽  
Political Development ◽  
American Political Development ◽  
The Political ◽  
Carceral State ◽  
Research Framework ◽  
Research Production ◽  
Fields Of Study ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
And Control

For decades, both incarceration and research on the topic have proliferated. Disciplines within the Western sciences have studied the topic of incarceration through their respective lenses. Decades of data reflect trends and consequences of the carceral state, and based on that data the various disciplines have put forth arguments as to how the trends and consequences are of relevance to their respective fields of study. The research trajectory of incarceration research, however, overlooks the assumptions behind punishment and control and their institutionalization that produce and maintain the carceral state and its study. This omission of assumptions facilitates a focus on outcomes that serve to reinforce Western perspectives, and it contributes to the overall stagnation in the incarceration research produced in Western disciplines. An assessment of the study of the carceral state within the mainstream of American Political Development in the political science discipline provides an example of how the research framework contributes to the overall stagnation, even though the framework of the subfield allows for an historical institutionalization perspective. The theoretical perspectives of Cedric J. Robinson reveal the limits of Western lenses to critically assess the state. The alternative framework he provides to challenge the limits imposed on research production by Western perspectives applies to the argument presented here concerning the limitations that hamper the study of the carceral state.

Research Frontier Essay: When Are Interests Interesting? The Problem of Political Representation of Women

1981 ◽  
Vol 75 (3) ◽  
pp. 701-716 ◽  
Author(s):  
Virginia Sapiro
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Social Movements ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Political Research ◽  
Representation Of Women ◽  
Increasing Demand

Recent years have witnessed an increasing demand by women for political representation of women. This demand points the way toward a number of important problems for political research, many of which remain unsolved primarily because of the segregation of women's studies from the dominant concerns of political science. This discussion focuses on the problem of group interests and representation, drawing on and suggesting further research on public opinion, interest groups, social movements, international politics, political elites, and public policy.

Understanding the Gender and Partisan Dynamics of Abortion Voting in the House of Representatives

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-35
Author(s):  
Kelly L. Rolfes-Haase ◽  
Michele L. Swers
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
House Of Representatives ◽  
Voting Behavior ◽  
Complex Dynamic ◽  
Women’S Autonomy ◽  
Women's Autonomy ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Pro Life

Abstract Analyzing votes on abortion-related legislation from the 103rd (1993–94) to the 115th (2017–18) Congresses, we find that both gender and party influence members’ voting behavior. Among Republicans, women are more likely than men to oppose pro-life initiatives, although the impact of gender attenuates over time. Among Democrats, apparent gender differences in voting behavior are explained by the nature of the districts they represent. We also find that the type of abortion issue impacts the influence of gender. Republican women are more likely than Republican men to defect on policies that highlight women's autonomy, such as on bills related to contraception, while Democratic men are more likely than Democratic women to support legislation related to abortion bans. These gender differences reflect a complex dynamic of members’ responsiveness to public opinion on specific issues and party efforts to influence that opinion in ways that favor perceptions of party issue expertise.

Past Activism, Party Pressure, and Ideology: Explaining the Vote to Deploy Korean Troops to Iraq

2013 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 243-266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sookyung Kim ◽  
Paul Chang ◽  
Gi-Wook Shin
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Political Behavior ◽  
Voting Behavior ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Institutional Setting ◽  
National Assembly ◽  
Institutional Politics ◽  
Movement Participation ◽  
The Impact

Studies have found that participation in social movements has long-term consequences for individuals' personal life choices and political beliefs. An important but understudied subject in this literature is the impact of past activism on political behavior in an institutional context. The entry of past activists into Korea's National Assembly offers a unique opportunity to assess the continuing effects of movement participation in the context of institutional politics. Analyzing roll call data related to Korea's participation in the Iraq War, we explore the relative effects of movement participation and institutional pressure after accounting for legislators' current ideological positions. Results from regression analyses show that while party and ideology remain strong predictors of voting behavior, past participation in social movements continues to influence political action. This study extends the scope of research on the consequences of social movements by pointing to the impact of movement participation on political behavior in an institutional setting.

Understanding Law as a Democratic Institution Through US Constitutional Development

2015 ◽  
Vol 40 (03) ◽  
pp. 811-832 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie Novkov
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Constitutional Law ◽  
Political Development ◽  
American Political Development ◽  
Constitutional Development ◽  
Democratic Institution ◽  
Oxford University ◽  
Oxford University Press

This essay reviews Howard Gillman, Mark Graber, and Keith Whittington, American Constitutionalism: Volume I: Structures of Government (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012), and Howard Gillman, Mark Graber, and Keith Whittington, American Constitutionalism: Volume II: Rights and Liberties (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012). It defends developmental approaches in the study of US constitutional law. It explains how law has been studied in political science, illustrating how political development became part of the story. It outlines how American political development approaches work when applied to law, noting how studying law transforms these approaches. It notes the insights produced through the blending of American political development and constitutional law, explaining how these insights provide more leverage for understanding the role of courts as democratic institutions. The essay closes by discussing the promising directions these approaches suggest, defending their value beyond political science.

Frame Spillover: Media Framing and Public Opinion of a Multifaceted LGBT Rights Agenda

2013 ◽  
Vol 38 (02) ◽  
pp. 403-441 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen M. Engel
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Political Development ◽  
News Coverage ◽  
American Political Development ◽  
Media Framing ◽  
Policy Debate ◽  
The Us ◽  
Social Movement Framing ◽  
Rights Issue ◽  
Pattern Coding

Between May and July 2003, a shift in how the US public viewed the legality of consensual homosexual sex occurred. While in May the largest percentage of respondents to date supported decriminalizing such activity, that percentage dropped eleven points two months later. Similar declines in support were evident in the same period over a range of gay and lesbian rights claims. The ruling inLawrence v. Texas(2003) decriminalizing homosexual sex is the obvious intervening event. To explain this pattern, coding of print and televised news coverage of the ruling throughout 2003 was undertaken. Coverage was not overtly negative in terms of antigay rhetoric or hostility toward the judiciary; rather, the dominant media frame focused on the implications ofLawrencefor an entirely separate rights issue: marriage equality. This article examines the dynamic of frame “spillover,” or the idea that media focus on a distinct and not widely supported rights claim in a multifaceted rights agenda might depress support across the entire rights agenda. The findings call for further research, and they have implications for scholarship on public opinion, social movement framing, and ideational development and policy debate as studied within the broader field of American political development.

scholarly journals Review of What is Political Sociology? by Nga Than

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nga Than
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Political Power ◽  
Political Sociology ◽  
Social Processes ◽  
Formal Institutions ◽  
Nation States

In What is Political Sociology?, Elisabeth S. Clemens offers a smart primer on political sociology that asks what is distinct about this sub-field. By surveying its main concepts and research agendas—power and politics, states, nation-states, social movements, social change, and transnationalism—she shows how political sociology examines social processes that influence both formal politics and the politics that take place in everyday settings. Clemens notes that that political sociology differs from political science in that the former studies politics in various settings and that patterns of political participation and the distribution of political power are shaped by social relations, while the latter studies “the formal institutions and acts of governing” (p.1).

Structure, Sequence, and Subordination in American Political Culture: What's Traditions Got to Do with It?

1996 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 470-478 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Orren
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Political Development ◽  
American Political Science Review ◽  
American Political Development ◽  
Science Review ◽  
American Political Culture ◽  
Short Space ◽  
American Political Science ◽  
Do So

Rogers Smith's American Political Science Review article, “Beyond Tocqueville, Myrdal, and Hartz: The Multiple Traditions of America,” poses challenging substantive and methodological questions for the study of American political development. Whether or not it intended to do so, the article has struck a chord in several programs of research. The following colloquy between Smith and me centers on Smith's reading of political culture in terms of “traditions.” In a spirit of advancing our common enterprise, I have sharpened rather than muted the differences between Smith's views and my own in order to bring them into relief in a short space.

The Presidency and American Political Development

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sidney M. Milkis
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
American History ◽  
Political Development ◽  
American Political Development ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Presidential Power ◽  
Thick Description ◽  
Constitutional Government ◽  
Presidential Studies ◽  
The New Deal

In contrast to mainstream presidential studies, American Political Development (APD) scholars have viewed presidents as critical agents of structural change. They have dedicated creative theorizing, archival research, process tracing, and thick description to the investigation of how presidents have been formative actors in state-building and in redefining regime norms and the terms of constitutional government throughout American history. This chapter explores how an APD approach to studying the presidency sheds light on critical questions such as how presidents have influenced the rise and fall of political orders in American history; how presidential power has been affected by the emergence of “big government” during the first six decades of the twentieth century; and how the establishment of a presidency-centered democracy forged on the New Deal political order has affected representative constitutional government. Continued attention to regime-level issues requires that APD maintain its traditional ties to political theory and the humanities.

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